


Crimson

by Crowsnight66



Series: Breed [5]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Breed Extra, Gen, Heartbreak, Magic, Mental Breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 06:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10656831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowsnight66/pseuds/Crowsnight66
Summary: An extra from after the elementals leave Hokkaido and are on the run from Nijimura and the police.





	Crimson

_“Let’s talk this over. It’s not like we’re dead. Was it something I did? Was it something you said? Don’t leave me hanging in a city so dead, held up so high on such a breakable thread. You were all the things I thought I knew, and I thought we could be._

_“You were everything, everything that I wanted. We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it. All of the memories so close to me just fade away. All this time, you were pretending. So much for my happy ending.”_

_―“My Happy Ending” by Avril Lavigne_

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

Kise wonders exactly how long they’ll have to stay at this hotel. It’s not too bad, and due to the small complex having plenty of vacancies, the three rooms are all next to each other. It works out well. If Midorima doesn’t kill Murasakibara for eating and getting crumbs all over the place or something.

Akashi has been deathly quiet, even more quiet than Kuroko, but Kise doesn’t say anything as they settle in their room. If the person he loved turned on him like that….

Kise sits on the bed closest to the door, his backpack beside him with the clothes he managed to get before they ran. Starting over isn’t going to be fun. Maybe they’ll move somewhere closer to the coast though. That could be a good t―

Suddenly, Akashi screams. The redhead sinks down into the fetal position at the foot of the bed, his hands gripping his hair as the screech ripped through the air like a siren through a tunnel. Kise’s head spins for a moment at the sound, unable to comprehend how such a high-pitched, unnatural shriek could even come from the younger male, but he doesn’t dwell on it. Well, he can’t, considering that the microwave flew from the side table into the wall with a loud crunch.

Beside the bed, Midorima appears before Aomine darts through the door, quickly followed by Kuroko and Murasakibara.

“What’s happening to him?” Kise shouts over the screaming, aiming the question at Midorima.

A crack spider webs through the vanity mirror, millions of roads carved into a spotless landscape. The pillows begin to rise from the bed and rip themselves apart.

When there’s no reply, Kise runs to his brother. “Akashicchi!”

Pain flourishes alive in Kise’s stomach as he doubles over the foot lodged against his stomach. Between the hurt of being kicked by the redhead and the physical pain that has him toppling over, Kise would have received a punch in the side of the face if Aomine hadn’t caught the fist mid-swing.

“Snap out of it!” Aomine yells, followed by curses as he jumps away from a near kick to the groin.

The bathroom door starts slamming open and shut.

“Hold him!” Midorima says.

Kise and Aomine grab a foot each, and Murasakibara holds down Akashi’s hands. Now the redhead is pinned to the floor, but he’s struggling with more strength than Kise can imagine. Even Murasakibara is jarred by the force Akashi releases.

Luckily, when they hold him down, things stop moving and the screeching stops. Kuroko has to go outside to attempt to calm the hotel owner, though Kise suspects that when the Shadow comes back in, he’s used a scare tactic. It wouldn’t be hard since all five of them having glowing eyes. Akashi’s eyes don’t really glow; they never have, but the left one has never been gold before now either.

Tears fall down Akashi’s cheeks, even as he fights, now with failing strength. He’s biting his lip until blood dribbles down his chin, and overall, he looks pathetic.

Regardless of this, Murasakibara and Kise have to hold him down for another two hours. Otherwise, he starts screaming and going out of control again. It isn’t until he falls asleep that Murasakibara returns to his room for the night.

Kise picks up Akashi and lays him in the bed, tucking him in.

After the blonde cleans Akashi’s face with a washcloth, he tosses the remains of the pillows into the corner of the room with the microwave, which looks like an oversized, crushed aluminum can.

The next morning, Akashi is reading when Kise wakes up.

“Akashicchi?” Kise quietly asks. “Are you alright?”

The redhead doesn’t say anything or even move.

“I know you’re probably…embarrassed, but at least tell me if you’re okay.”

Nothing.

At that, Kise sits up, kicking the blankets off his bare legs. With a worried frown, he sits down on the edge of Akashi’s bed and waves a hand in front of the mismatched eyes.

Akashi moves the book to the side, where his eyes have an undisrupted view of the words.

“Akashicchi!” Kise says, louder this time, and he shakes the other by the shoulders. Yet, there’s no reaction.

A few minutes later, Midorima pulls away from Akashi with a deep frown. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. His body seems to be conscious and fully functional, but….”

“What, so he’s like a zombie or something?” Aomine says. “Body awake, but no one’s home?”

“He’s not a zombie,” Midorima says with an irritated edge.

“What do we do?” Kise asks, cutting into the impending argument.

“We wait.”

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

On the third day, Akashi is drying himself off, stark naked as he looks through his clothes in his backpack.

Kise sits on the bed as usual. Each day of this is torture. Each day, he feels more and more depressed, less and less confident that Akashi will “wake up”. Among other things, Akashi isn’t the type to run around naked in front of his brothers; he just usually is more reserved about his body than, say, Kise and Aomine are. This isn’t something he would do if he were himself, so Kise sits with his back turned, just to give him some privacy.

After a minute or so, Kise turns to see the shorter male reading again, something he’s been doing even more than usual lately. Akashi has been a big reader since he was born, thinking of it as research on humans.

Kise chuckles mirthlessly. “You know, Akashicchi, when you started talking about Nijimura, I wanted to warn you. I did, but…I didn’t at the same time.” He sighs quietly. “I just thought…you were so excited to be around him, and I didn’t want to take that from you, even though I got this vibe from him. Like he wasn’t the one you were supposed to be with. I guess it’s kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?”

Golden eyes glance up, but mismatched orbs don’t meet the gaze.

“I’m supposed to be your big brother, but I couldn’t keep you safe from that. You’ve always listened to me ramble on and on about Aominecchi, and I always listened to you when you talked about Nijimura, but I could tell. I could _tell_ that he didn’t love you, but I couldn’t…” Kise shakes his head. “I couldn’t say that to you. I just wanted you to be happy, even though I knew it would break you in the end.” He throws his hands in the air. “And it did!”

Akashi turns the page of his book.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? You always preached vigilance. ‘Don’t let the humans find out; it’ll be the end of us,’” he says in his best Akashi voice, though the pitch is too low and it lacks the Akashi-like accent. “You were always curious to a fault, but you were still cautious until you met him. A real classic love story, isn’t it?”

When Akashi clears his throat, Kise jumps at the sound and looks up. Of course, clearing his throat is all it was, not a sudden burst of consciousness.

Kise sighs again. “This changed you, Akashicchi. I know it did.” He puts a hand on his stomach, right over the black and purple bruise. It crawls with pins and needles every time he moves. “You were too strong and too violent for who I know you are. Bruises aren’t supposed to feel like this. You may be strong for your size, but the only way you could hit that hard and fight against Murasakibaracchi like that is if you had magic. You used psychokinesis on your body, didn’t you?” He pauses, as if he expects the redhead to answer. “Your power only affects abiotic factors.”

After a minute, Kise shakes his head and gazes into Akashi’s eyes. The right is solid, the color of dark crimson blood, but the left flickers with golden fire, the colors swirling around each other like magma. Kise remembers the bright scarlet light that used to simmer in the depths of the orbs―playful, aware, and curious.

“Who are you now?” Kise whispers.

Akashi doesn’t reply, not that the blonde expects him to.

**Author's Note:**

> Author Note: Please review!


End file.
